Can you spot the 10 differences?
Rainforest scenes created with Canva.com for Mongabay Kids
About tapirs
Tapirs are unique animals that look a bit like a pig crossed with a short-trunked elephant. Their most unusual feature is their prehensile snout: this funny flexible nose is used for smelling and grabbing their food. A tapir’s snout can also be used as a snorkel! Tapirs are excellent swimmers.
The closest relatives of tapirs are not elephants or pigs, but actually horses, zebras, and rhinoceroses.
Tapirs live in tropical forests and rainforests. They are herbivores – enjoying a diet of fruits, shoots, and leaves. They help forests grow by dispersing seeds in their poo.
Three species of tapirs live in Central and South America and one species lives in Southeast Asia. All species of tapir are at risk of extinction, so protecting their forest homes is important.
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More resources
We highly recommend the IUCN Tapir Specialist Group website. This comprehensive resource includes information about each tapir species and its conservation needs. The website has an Educator resource page and a Kids Corner with puzzles, comics, and activities.
Visit the World Tapir Day website for tapir-themed arts & crafts.
Club Crochet offers a Malayan tapir crochet pattern, including an instructional video.
*Mongabay Kids is not responsible for content published on external sites.
